Let and be real numbers such that the roots of these 10 polynomials
are all integer numbers (in some order).
a) What is the maximum amount of odd values among ?
b) Find the minimum and maximum values of the sum .
SAUDI ARABIAN IMO Booklet, 2023
Solution
a) Denote as the roots of the -th polynomial, then by Vieta's theorem, and . Thus which is always even, implying that at most 1 number among is odd. Hence, there are at most 10 odd values among their coefficients.
The equality case occurs when are roots of the given polynomials.
b) By Vieta's theorem, we need to find the minimum and maximum value of
Note that for all , , thus
On the other hand, for and then so , thus
Hence, we can conclude that:
* , attained when are roots of 10 polynomials.
* , attained when are roots of 10 polynomials.
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